Staycation, Part I
As mentioned in my last post, Ted and I took this week off from work for a staycation. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and people come from around the world to visit, so sometimes it is fun to play tourist in our own area. We decided we wanted to do a variety of things…some days chilling and maybe getting things done, some days out and about. Here’s a recap of the first half of our staycation.
Saturday, we went to Ted’s parents’ house to celebrate his step-dad’s birthday. It was a low key party, just us, them, and Ted’s brother. Instead of cooking, we brought in take-out, and it was a relaxing and lovely day.
Sunday we mostly relaxed, took walks, went to the grocery store, that kind of thing, though in the evening after dinner, Ted and I went to a movie! Way back when we were dating and first married, we went to the movies a LOT. Sometimes every weekend would find us seeking out something to see in the theater. Then we had Maya, and that pretty much stopped for quite awhile, with movie going becoming a rare treat that involved babysitters and so on. I don’t know that we ever got back to going almost every weekend, though we DID used to go a lot once childcare was no longer an issue. The pandemic of course changed that. ANYWAY, we went to see It Ends With Us, which I think is not being marketed well. I thought it was a Rom-Com. Instead, it’s the story of domestic abuse. I didn’t really enjoy it that much (though Maya warned us about the domestic abuse before we went, so it wasn’t that I was shocked). Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t known what was coming, if I hadn’t had that warning? But perhaps I would have felt blindsided by the shiny marketing? I don’t know. It was well done, good acting, beautiful people, and as hopeful of an ending as you can get with this kind of story line. Not a lot of 2 dimensional characters, which is a relief with something like this. I’m not sure what I didn’t like. I guess it felt like a Hallmark movie to me.
Monday, we played tourist and went to San Francisco. We took BART in and then walked a few blocks over to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Our goal was to see some paintings by Rothko, as well as checking out whatever else they had. The man who sold us our tickets suggested that we start with two exhibits, Yayoi Kusama’s Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, and Ragnar Kjartansson’s The Visitors. Kusama’s was very whimsical. They let you into a multi-colored glass cube, with big polka dots. That was it. It was bright and cheerful and fun. The picture above is from inside the cube.
The same artist is very into pumpkins, and had this huge interpretation in another part of the museum. Did I mention that she is in her 90s, and that both pieces of art are new? Incredible. The picture of Ted in the walkway at the top of the post is of a piece called the One Way Color Tunnel, by Olafur Eliasson.
Kjartansson’s exhibit was an immersive musical experience. We entered a large dark room, with 9 huge screens placed around the room. 8 of the screens had individual musicians playing instruments and singing. When you were in the middle of the room, the voices all came together, but when you were close to one screen, you mostly heard that artist.
The visuals were beautiful, the rooms looked like paintings, lush and full of color. Ted said that the screen above could be me, taking a nap with everything going on. That’s fair. The 9th screen had the outside of the house, with a group of people on the porch. The backstory is that this musical collaboration was the work of one of the artist, and was performed in one take back in 2012. The location was a beautiful old mansion in upstate New York, and the people on the porch were the family who owned the mansion.
The entire thing is just over an hour, though we were there for perhaps the final 15 or 20 minutes. For the finale, the individual artists slowly leave their rooms and they all gather together around one of the pianos, then they wander outside, and the entire group drifts off into a field singing. It was beautiful, immersive, and charming. Post pandemic, it really had a feel of individual isolation, then of coming together, that was poignant. I loved it, though I don’t think I would want to see the entire hour.
We saw another exhibit, German Art After 1960 that I found incredibly moving. I was struck by the airplane, Melancholia, by Anselm Kiefer.
Resting forlornly on the ground with an ash-filled polyhedron on its wing, this sculpture refers to Melancholia, a well known engraving of the same title by German artist Albrecht Durer. Like the fallen angel in Durer’s work, this lead airplane seems to carry all the weight and sorrows of the world. While its form suggests the promise of freedom and flight, Kiefer’s sculpture is infused with the knowledge of technology’s dark side, including the violent role aircraft played in the bombing campaigns of World War II.
This painting, also by Kiefer, is titled Sulamith.
This cavernous interior is modeled on the fascist Hall of Soldiers, with its series of dark arches receding toward a flickering flame. Originally a symbol of remembrance for fallen defenders of National Socialism, the fire here suggests destruction and honors the persecuted.
This statue is titled Four on a Bench, by Magdalena Abakanowicz.
Abakanowicz arranged four headless burlap figures in a tense line on a wooden base. The empty bandage-like forms evoke a sense of displacement and loss, echoing her time as a nurse’s aide during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. “As our home and the countryside receded,” she once wrote, “I felt increasingly hollow. As if my insides had been removed and the exterior, unsupported by anything, shrank, losing its form.”
We found 2 Rothkos. Were there more that we missed? I’m not sure. Ted has a couple of paintings from a local artist that are so similar, she was clearly influenced by Rothko. They are great and obviously much more affordable.
We were hungry, so we left the museum and walked to Tadich Grill, which is known as the oldest restaurant in San Francisco. It opened in 1849, so has been around for 175 years, though not all in the same location. We had clam chowder (white for me, red for Ted), and shared a plate of seafood, and it was delicious.
Tuesday was a stay home and take care of things kind of day. Our 2008 Scion has been burning through a lot of oil lately, and was low and due for an oil change, so we took it in to get that taken care of. As so often happens, they found other things that needed to be done, including 4 new tires and an alignment. Bah. We decided to go get a couple of things at Target, then went to breakfast. While at the restaurant, the mechanic called to say that they couldn’t get the oil plug out. It was stripped or something, and would not separate from the oil pan. BAH. Our $100 oil change turned into $1,600 worth of work. We’re hoping that the car wasn’t actually burning oil more quickly, and that the issue was that the plug wasn’t making a tight seal, thus leaking a bit. We’ve never noticed any blue smoke when we start the car, and no oil on our parking spot, so this may or may not be the case. Time will tell. Whomever said that staycations were cheaper than going on a trip is lying.
Tuesday evening was the debate between Harris and Trump, which was extremely satisfying. Please please please let her win. I remember being so hopeful that Clinton would win, and so heartbroken when she lost. Then again, I also remember being so worried that Biden would lose, and he won, so there is definitely a lot of hope.
Do you enjoy staycations? Just taking time off to tour your part of the world, and maybe have some lazy days at home?
26 Comments
nance
Those colourful installations were so uplifting and cheery. What a huge contrast to the exhibit of Four On A Bench, which I was quite drawn to.
I’m sorry about your car repair troubles. Ugh. Things can unravel fast when you take your car into the shop. Fingers crossed that this cash outlay ends all the problems you were having with it burning oil so rapidly.
It always seems like expenses come in bunches. This spring/summer it seemed like all we did was write big checks for home stuff. I sure hope we’re done now for a long time, at least. 2024 was a pretty expensive year for us.
J
Oh goodness, I hope that your big expenses are finished for awhile too. Did you maybe host the wedding or something related, and spend money getting ready for that?
Regarding the car, yes, we’re hoping to keep it running as long as we can. If this doesn’t solve the oil problem, we may break down and buy a new car. BAH! I mean, I’d love a new car, but I don’t want a car payment. Can’t someone gift us one?
Ally Bean
The colorful installations are a joy to see. The car troubles are less of a joy. Sorry. We used to go on staycations, specifically declaring we were at home but going to pretend to be tourists in our own city. It was fun and silly. Now with Z-D more or less retired we can be tourists whenever we want to, so not really staycating anymore. Not that we’ve gone on a vacations either. We’re homebodies, happily so.
J
That’s exactly what we’re doing, Ally, playing tourist at home. Ted even took a book out to the pool and relaxed there, which is something one might do on vacation as well. Maybe we’ll do that tomorrow…
Elisabeth
Love all the art and delicious food. Staycations can be the best.
But – oof about the car. It’s so much worse when the bill ends up being more than expected. Every once in a while I expect a repair to cost a small fortune, and it’s like 1/4 of what I think it will be. Now THAT feels amazing. Everything else just hurts. We must have a vehicle where we live (very limited public transit), so it’s unavoidable but still…oof.
J
Yeah, going in expecting to pay $100, and coming out with a $1,600 bill was a bit of a surprise. But when you have an older car, it’s not unheard of either. I LOVE when the price is much less than what I expect, but that rarely seems to be the case.
Birchie
I saw an NYT piece about the guy who predicted that Trump would win in 2016 and then that Biden would win in 2020. He says Kamala will win this time, so I’m going with his prediction!
I love the plane. I can’t explain why, but there’s something about it that’s drawing me in.
I haven’t staycated in a while, but of course you know I love traveling locally. We have so much good stuff that I would never know about if I hadn’t gotten out of the house and explored.
J
Birchie, I don’t know why, but I really love the plane too! It was touching to me before I read the description, and then I was ALL IN. I love that you travel so locally and really explore your area.
YAY on the prediction guy, I hope he’s right!
Jenny
Wow, I LOVE those exhibits! The musical experience sounds amazing, and I would find the German art one fascinating as well (I’m reading about Germany in the 1960s right now.) You definitely live in a great place for a staycation. Although, yes, you could have spent that $1600 on a lovely trip! Oh well- cars are expensive, sigh.
J
Those exhibits were really great, I’m so glad we went. We hadn’t been to that museum in quite awhile for some reason.
Cars ARE expensive. I’m keeping track of repair costs this year, which I haven’t really done before. I’m annualizing them, to see which is cheaper…repairs or a car payment. At this point, the repairs we have had done in 2024 are averaging out to $150 a month for one car, and $200 for the other. Not nothing, but less than two car payments for sure.
Margaret
Cars, bah. Whenever one thing is wrong, it seems to lead to other expensive fixes. Being a tourist in your own area is fun and lower stress than trying to fly (or drive) somewhere. John and I take trips up to Seattle to do various things and take the light rail or Sounder. Cheap, easy and no parking stress or $$.
J
That’s the down side of older cars, right? I mean, even a newer car can need tires and brakes, but the chances of something going on when a car is older are greater.
I love traveling and seeing different parts of the world, but seeing new things right here is pretty cool as well.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Wonderful art. I love staycations and playing tourist in your own town.
Maybe i should suggest tis to the husband to do at least some sort of vacation this year.
Sorry to hear about the car. No one needs these kinds of drama. Buhhh
J
Thanks Tobia, I thought of you when I saw the circles in that first piece, how you’re looking for shapes for 2024. 🙂
Nicole MacPherson
I heard about that movie, how it has been marketed. Girl’s night out! Etc. And it’s about domestic violence, what a crazy thing to have such lighthearted marketing about.
J
Interesting, right? Decent enough movie, but more serious than the marketing suggests.
Meike
I know those pictures from our latest visits to the MOMA. Even my son liked te Kusama exhibit and I want to go back and watch the movie again before it leaves. Aren’t we lucky to have a museum like this close by?
I hear you on the car costs. At our last inspection we had a surprise, too. Getting told we need a new suspension was no fun but at least we got it fixed before our roadtrip. Our minivan is 13 now and it served us well. I always hope it lasts us until both kids have their license…
J
Oh, I’m so glad you got to see these exhibits and enjoyed them as well!
Old cars are definitely expensive, but at this point still cheaper than a car payment. I’m keeping track so I will know when we flip!
Stephany
I read It Ends With Us yeeears ago so I knew what it was about, and the marketing has been so, so bad. Blake Lively was not the right person for this movie – not because of her acting skills but because she just doesn’t seem to care about what this movie is really about. It’s not a great look!
Ugh, car troubles. There’s nothing that frustrates me more!
J
Stephany, I’m getting that same impression about Lively, that she is really blowing it with the marketing. Unfortunate, and really strange, right?
Melissa
I have a little list of things I want to see around Melbourne, but making the time is the problem although we tend to have the odd day here and there where we decide to do something because G has a four-day workweek, which leaves us a bit a free time during the week. I have a few really touristy things that I’d like to do.
That’s bad news about the car. I guess lucky you were on a staycation so you don’t have the cost of the car and a holiday to pay for.
J
I agree, I’m glad that we didn’t have hotel and travel expenses on top of the car!
Ernie
Oh shoot. Unexpected car expenses are the worst. I hope it runs great and keeps chugging (not oil) along for years.
We did a staycation once when I was expecting Curly, I think. We did stay in a hotel in the city, so it wasn’t exactly a staycation as we added that expense, There’s so much to do in Chicago and we don’t go down there very often – back then we didn’t because it was hard with little guys and naps and everything was expensive. In later years, we rarely went down there because we were busy with all of the kids’ activities. There are several things in the city that we’ve still never done – like the boat archiectural tour. We’ve never taken our kids up in the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower, but I’m old school).
The musical art exhibit looks so cool. I really enjoyed the bit of it that I saw. It never ceases to amaze me what creative people come up with.
J
We’ve done vacations like that too, where we stay for a couple of nights in San Francisco or Monterey, which are within driving distance, but staying over just makes it all so much easier. FUN!
I had a similar thought at the musical exhibit…creative minds are such a gift to the world!
Daria
Hi Julie, sorry I’ve been MIA for a while. Your staycation sounds wonderful. Thank you for giving us some descriptions of the installations. I found the hollow figures powerful.
Lyra and i went to see Yayoi Kusama installations back in 2020 at the New York Botanical Gardens, I remember polka dot everything, a whimsical sun installation, and the pumpkins, too. What an artist she is. And I love how open she is about her mental health.
So sorry about the car. I’ve had some work done on my Subaru re: air conditioning this summer. $1500 agh…
J
I loved her work, it was beautiful! I am unaware of her mental health struggles, but am always glad when people who are comfortable doing so speak about it, so they can destigmatize it.